Lucas: Charlie Baker Should Support Signature Effort to Repeal Illegal Immigrant License Law6/20/2022
Gov. Charlie Baker should be out gathering signatures. That way the outgoing Republican chief executive could make sure that the people get a chance to vote on the new law granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. It would also help mend fences with the conservatives who now run the party and who also oppose the new law. The controversial measure became law after the Democrat-run Massachusetts Legislature voted to override Baker’s veto of the bill. Barring voter repeal if the issue makes it to the November 2022 ballot — illegal immigrants will be eligible for driver’s licenses beginning July 1, 2023. They must first provide two documents to the Registry of Motor Vehicles proving their identity, such as a foreign passport and a birth certificate. Despite objections that the immigrants were being rewarded for breaking the law by coming into the country illegally, the House voted 119 to 36 and the Senate 32-8 to override Baker’s veto. Baker expressed concern that not only was the Registry incapable of verifying documents, but that the bill “significantly increases the risk that noncitizens will be registered to vote.” As for the argument that illegal immigrants needed driver’s licenses to get to work, one critic observed that if they could get from El Salvador or Nicaragua through Mexico to Boston without a driver’s license, they could find a way to get to their jobs. No sooner did the veto take place than Geoff Diehl, the Republican convention endorsed candidate for governor, got Maureen Maloney, a GOP committee member, to lead the effort to repeal it. Maloney’s son was gruesomely killed by a drunken driving illegal immigrant from Ecuador a decade ago. “The death of my son ignited my passion for activism,” Maloney said. “I feel like the voters should be making this decision. I think the Legislature was more than a little tone deaf.” “This is a bad bill,” Diehl said. “It’s not what the people of Massachusetts want.” To get the issue on the ballot, Maloney’s Fair and Secure Massachusetts Committee must gather over 40,000 signatures, or 1.5% of the total vote cast in the last race for governor, by Sept. 7. It is a tough but not impossible task since Diehl and Jim Lyons, the chairman of the Republican State Committee, will actively support the gathering of signatures. Diehl in 2014 led a successful ballot campaign that repealed a law tying the increase of the gasoline tax to the rate of inflation. Chris Doughty, the Wrentham businessman who is challenging Diehl for the GOP nomination, is also willing to join in gathering signatures to get the issue on the ballot. He called the law “a magnet” for illegal immigrants. While opposed to the new law, Doughty has proposed to tighten the verification process. As things stand now, Massachusetts residents narrowly oppose granting the licenses, according to a recent Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll. It showed 47% opposed to 46% in favor and 7% undecided. Comments are closed.
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